2. Who am I?
• I’m Alex!
• I plan and execute
social media for
Simmons College
• I also run stupid long
distances
(occasionally
marathons)
3. What are we going to talk about?
• Building a strong brand voice that will
resonate with your future student body
• Leveraging social media platforms to reach
different audiences
• Techniques for interacting with applicants
through social media
4. Finding your voice
• This can be difficult
• Followers are seeking authenticity
• There’s a difference between voice and tone
• What do you want your brand to sound like? A
peer? An expert?
• Be an authority, but also be personable
• Adjust your voice depending on the platform
5. Teen use of social platforms
Data source: Piper Jaffray, 2014
6. Reaching the right people
• There are 60.3 million
U.S. Instagram users in
2015
• 11.4 million Instagram
users are 17 or younger
• 16.4 million users are
ages 18-24
• 19.4 million users are
ages 25-34
Data source: Ad Week, 2015
7. We found the kids! What next?
• So we should focus our
recruiting efforts on the
platforms they’re on,
right?
• Next steps: Finding them!
• Targeted advertising on
Twitter is a good start
• Respond in a timely
manner to any questions
on social media
8. Have them use a hashtag
• Hashtags are a good
way for students to
connect with each
other and you
• Once students visit
campus, for tours or
an larger admissions
day, they use
#SimmonsVisit
9. …and remind them to use it!
• Once students
received admissions
packets, we
encouraged them to
post to Twitter and
Instagram
• We used
#admittedtosimmons
– allowed us to
congratulate them on
their achievements
10. In review
• Go where the kids are (Instagram, Twitter)
• Engage with them early (on tours, college
visits, etc…)
• Include relevant social media information
throughout the application process
• Respond!
• After they’re accepted, continue engaging to
ensure yield
Voice is your school’s mission statement (At Simmons: To provide transformative learning that links passion with lifelong purpose. At Simmons, leaders make themselves). Tone is the application of that mission.
It’s important to determine early on how you want your brand to sound so you can be consistent
Many prospective students don’t respond well to a PR machine; think about the brands you love to follow on social media, and why you love them
Audiences differ on each platform, so adjust your voice/tone depending
This has been our fastest growing account in the last two years; our follower count has tripled
